I’ve been in a pretty bad head space for a couple of months now – maybe longer. And mostly what gets through the numb haze of my depression is anger. It’s how I was raised. So, I’m going to need a minute here to vent my spleen a little.

Look away now of you are sensitive or if there are small children in the room…

So, I’m on the treadmill this morning, trying to get a little exercise and maybe elevate my mood hormones, and for some masochistic reason, Fox News is on three out of the like eight TVs in front of the cardio area at my gym. Now, I usually don’t pay any attention, but at the end of my workout, I tend to be tired and unable to block out the world.

On the channel, which shall henceforth be referred to as either: “The Channel Which Shall Not Be Named”, or “Hastur, Hastur, Hastur News”, there was a segment with someone claiming to be a mental health professional called: “Normal or Nuts”, where ostensibly people call or write in with their questions about questionable behavior.

First things first: why in hell would ANYONE ask “Hastur, Hastur, Hastur News” about anything regarding psychological health? That’s like asking a wino how to give up drinking.

Secondly, and the thing that set my internal organs a’ churnin’:

The questions these people wrote in with. Here are the two I saw, paraphrased, before my time on the hamster wheel was blissfully over and I could get the TV directly the fuck out of my line of sight:

1) Someone wrote in about their 16 year old sister still sleeping with stuffed animals, and was that normal?

2) Someone else asked about their grandmother. It appears to be the case that their grandmother believes her attic is haunted and has for the entire time she’s lived in the house. Is this normal?

(For reference, the so-called expert on “The Channel Which Shall Not Be Named” said these were both ‘nuts’ behaviors/ beliefs.)

I didn’t care one way or another about these behaviors/ beliefs, and that’s why my mind came up with two questions and a whole heap of anger:

1) Why do you – an unaffected party – care?

and

2) Why is it any of your fucking business?

(A third question: Why in the hell would you contact a nationally televised program to ask these questions? Or that would be the third question, if it didn’t make me too fucking angry to see straight.)

Really. Those should have – in any decent and civilized society – been the responses to those questions. It could have been a teaching moment, and at least one person, if no other of the viewers at any rate, could have learned something worth while: if it doesn’t affect you, or hurt anyone, what fucking business is it of yours?

Stuffed animals on a 16 year old’s bed (I won’t even gender norm here – can be male or female, I don’t give a fuck), or ghosts in your grandma’s attic make ZERO difference in the world.

FUCKING ZERO.

For fuck’s sake. Where are our priorities?

More than that, where is our basic respect for our fellow human beings?

Sold out for ratings, instagram likes, and fekkin’ YouTube views, apparently.

What kind of people have we become where these types of things even become a question to us? When did we lose the basic respect that everyone should have for other human beings?

Beyond that, when did we start relying on other people’s opinions rather than having our own thoughts and making up our own minds about things? Whether you believe someone’s behavior is normal or not – if you’re not a mental health professional – is really just up to you. Never give that up. Never abdicate your right to make up your own mind and to think your own thoughts.

And even if I don’t agree with what you believe, as long as it’s not hurting anyone, it’s none of my damned business.

…

…

Okay, totally calm now…

…maybe not.

Addendum:

On a station that flogs God and Jesus as much as, “Hastur, Hastur, Hastur News,” why is the idea of ghosts so nuts?

I mean, if you believe in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God (the god of Abraham), then you almost have to believe in ghosts. (on a side note, you also have to believe in demons and witches. Those are directly in the books and non-negotiable.) If souls exist, as these religions claim they do, then what is a soul but a spirit in a body (or out of body in some other heavenly or hellish realm). A ghost is just a disembodied spirit that hangs around the material plane. That’s the only difference, and logically it’s not even a stretch.

For what it’s worth (and I really don’t care what anyone thinks of me) I am nearly 43 years old and still sleep with either a teddy bear or a blankie, depending on my mood at bedtime. 😉 Also, I have lived in two separate places where I personally witnessed ghostly (paranormal?) activity. Am I nuts? Well sure, I think we are all a little bit nuts in our own way and I think that’s part of what makes us each ourselves. Does it matter? Not one single solitary bit. And I agree with you, Tess: Why the fuck is it anyone else’s business in the first place?